The Morning Reading: "maybe that's what I need, a good peeling"

In today's New York Times, "Really Looking" by Verlyn Klinkenborg:

One day I can hear the faint rustle of autumn coming. The next day I can’t. One evening summer leaks away into the cool night sky, and the next morning it’s back again. But there is headway. Birdsong has gone, replaced by the whining bagpiping of the insect creation. I look out across the pasture as dusk begins and see a shining galaxy of airborne bugs. How would it be, I wonder, to have an awareness of the actual number of insects on this farm?

I ask myself a version of that question every day: “Have you ever really looked at ...?” You can fill in the blank yourself. But every day I feel blinded by familiarity. I open the hive, which is filled with honey, and the particularity of the honeybees, even their community, somehow escapes me, if only because I’ve been living with honeybees a good part of my life. I remember the phrase, “keep your eyes peeled,” and maybe that’s what I need, a good peeling.

To read the rest, click here.

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